Course Syllabus

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BIENVENIDOS A SPANISH 3!

Please make sure to read all the information here carefully. This is the contract between professor and student. Make sure you have read and understood everything on this page; please ask me if you have any questions. 

For all assignments, check "Modules", and make sure that you have read all the PAGES before you start. Here, you have access to basic information after thoroughly reading the syllabus. READ THE ENTIRE SYLLABUS. If you decide to move forward in this class, that means that you agree to the terms and rules in the syllabus. 

 

OFFICIAL SYLLABUS FOR SPANISH 3, SPRING 2021

 

Professor Thorne
Pierce College
Spanish 3 (Intermediate Spanish)     

SECTION #13033 SPRING 2021        


VIRTUAL OFFICE HOURS: EVERY MONDAY AND TUESDAY FROM 9:00 AM to NOON. Please request ZOOM code for private meetings. Open ZOOM meetings also available every week on grammar, reading, and homework. 

COURSE INFORMATION AND STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES

Students continue to learn at an Intermediate level authentic language in communicative contexts and develop their listening, speaking, reading, and writing proficiency at the Intermediate Mid to Advanced Low levels. Students are expected to be comfortable with the grammar, oral proficiency and writing skills of a third semester, college-level Spanish course. Typically, students will have already taken Spanish 1 and 2 at the college level, or have completed Spanish 3 in high school.  IF YOU SPEAK SPANISH AT HOME and/or consider yourself very comfortable speaking the language, please take either Spanish 35 (for Heritage or fluent speakers of Spanish) or Spanish 2 or 3 (depending upon your proficiency and the courses that you have taken before). Contact me for any concerns or questions about the appropriate level for you. 

Upon successful completion of this course, students are able to use more sophisticated grammar--the imperfect and the preterit, the present and past subjunctive, compound tenses and sequence of tenses-- in conversation and writing and understand spoken Spanish at the Intermediate Mid level. Students expand their awareness of the cultural diversity of the Spanish-speaking world. The course is conducted in Spanish and rarely in English; only when required for comprehension of grammar points. Students are expected to use Spanish as exclusively in their videos and all other work related to the course. I strongly encourage students to use Spanish in Zoom meetings with me (no, those meetings are not required). 

Prerequisite: Spanish 2 at the college level or equivalent, as determined by the professor and Department Chair. 

Placement Advisory

Fluent Spanish speakers who have not had formal instruction in Spanish should enroll in Spanish 35. Students who have completed Spanish 35 should enroll in Spanish 36. Student who have completed four years of high-school Spanish should enroll in Spanish 3 or Spanish 36. Advanced or native Spanish speakers should enroll in Spanish 4 or Spanish 37.

For additional placement information, consult with the Modern Languages Department (818) 719-6452

 

About Online Courses

Some students have the misconception that it is better to take an online course if you are too busy and don’t have the time to dedicate to a college class. This could not be further from the truth! If you make the commitment to take a college course, you should be honest and ask yourself if you really have the time it requires to be successful. If you don’t, this does not mean that an online course is the solution to your problem; you should enroll at another time.

Another misconception is that when you take an online course, you go at your own pace. This is not true. This course follows a detailed course calendar with due dates to which students must adhere.

This online Spanish course requires you to watch videos, record and upload videos for the class to see and respond to, make voice recordings and many other things that require an updated computer. The last thing I want is for you to be frustrated by technology, so please make sure to do the following before beginning this course:

 

Make sure your email address is updated in Canvas so that you will get all of my emails.

About Computer Readiness Click HERE (Links to an external site.) to update your browser and plug ins required to fully participate in class.



COURSE MATERIALS

  • Computer (desktop or laptop)
  • Webcam, microphone, and speakers or earphones/pods
  • Blanco, José, et al. Vistas 6th Ed. Boston: Vista Higher Learning, 2020.
  • Things to keep in mind when purchasing course materials:
  • Do not buy a used book from an outside source; you will still be required to buy a code to access the online activities and these codes can only be used once by one student.
  • For special pricing options, use this link to purchase your materials: https://vistahigherlearning.com/school/lapiercecollege (Links to an external site.)
  • You will be prompted to create an account, be sure to remember your user name and password as you will need these to access all of the course materials.
  • ONLINE HOMEWORK CODE IS REQUIRED FOR THE COURSE. 
  • A physical book is not required; you may purchase the "online only" option. 

SPECIAL ACCOMMODATIONS

If you need special accommodations in this class, please contact Special Services in order to coordinate the help you need. The office is located on the first floor of the Student Services Building. Please follow this link for more information on available services: http://www.piercecollege.edu/offices/special_services/ (Links to an external site.) Phone:(818) 719-6430 / VP Number: (818) 436-0467

 

SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES

At the end of this course, students should be able to:

  • Express themselves with greater confidence in various every day practical situations, using more sophisticated vocabulary;
  • Ask and answer questions, express and discuss concepts using present and past tenses, be able to describe events and situations in multiple time frames and aspects;
  • Use appropriate vocabulary for more advanced scenarios and situations, in accordance with VISTAS topics;
  • Communicate orally and in writing at an Intermediate Mid to Advanced Low level.

 

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES (Official)

  1. Demonstrate Intermediate MID oral proficiency as measured by the ACTFL rubric.
  2. Satisfactory knowledge of grammar and culture appropriate to course content and objectives.

 

GRADING CRITERIA

 

The final grade is calculated by percentages and not by total points. This means that certain categories carry a heavier “weight” than others. Please see the pie graph below to understand how your grade will be calculated.

 

Overall, you will earn: 

(40%) forty percent for Homework and Practice Assignments on vhlcentral.com

(50%) forty percent for ASSESSMENT (exams, quizzes, compositions, Discussions, or any other assigned work)

(10%) ten percent Final Oral Exam

 

The content of the quizzes--and Assessment in general--is directly correlated to homework and practice activities and information in each of the lessons from 11 to 15. Therefore, your success in the Assessments is connected to your active participation and engagement in class activities. There are two quizzes that are part of the "Assessment" category: the midterm quiz (will be available April 12th for three days) and the final, grammar quiz (will be available the first week of June for three days). 

 

GRADING SCALE:

A=90-100            B=80-89             C=70-79              D=60-69             F=59 and below

 

About Homework and Practice Assignments (40% of Your Grade)

This is the bulk of the activities that will be completed as the term advances. These activities include vocabulary, grammar and cultural lessons, tutorials, and practice activities. Homework and practice activities vary in the number of attempts allowed—make sure to locate the grading criteria for any given particular assignment on the top right corner of the window where the assignment is to be completed. REMEMBER THAT YOUR OVERALL PERCENTAGE ON THE HOMEWORK THROUGH VHL COUNTS. It is not just a matter of completing the homework, but of scoring well. 

 

Assessment (50% of Your Grade)

Before you can communicate freely in Spanish, you must understand the structure and mechanics of the language. Each quiz, Discussion, or other assignment provides an opportunity to assess how well you understand the basic structure of the language. Assessment may include listening comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, reading comprehension and/or writing. If you don’t complete any Assessment by the deadline, you will receive a grade of 0. All written assessments will take place in Canvas. I do not allow students to make up exams.

 

About Due Dates in VHL Central Supersite

Every week you will complete various activities in Canvas and the VHL Central Supersite. You will be responsible for the following:

 

  • Mondays by 11:59 pm (although be prepared for this to occasionally change): Activities due in Canvas and/or VHL Central Supersite EVERY WEEK!

 

About Late Work

My role as your instructor is to spend as much time engaging with every student. My time is valuable (as is yours), and I want to spend it teaching you Spanish and not fielding individual problems that often times can be avoided. I have spent a lot of time putting together your course calendar, record the dates on your own calendar and make it top priority to adhere to them. I do not accept late work because it is not only unfair to me, but it is unfair to the students who have been responsible and completed their assignments on time. As a student, you are preparing yourself for the real world, in the real world; employers do not give time extensions so, please do not ask!

About the Final Oral Exam (10% of Your Grade)

At the end point of the course, it is important to do a comprehensive assessment to measure your overall proficiency in Spanish. There will be a comprehensive oral exam for the final assessment. I do not allow students to make up the final oral assessment. The final oral exam consists of your video upload, answering questions "on the spot" with no prior preparation. This means, you will not be able to prepare or review. This allows me to see how you can manage Spanish on your own in a spontaneous format. 

IMPORTANT! It is very easy to tell when someone is cheating on camera. It is easy to see eyes moving across a screen or looking down or side to side to check your notes, so please don’t try it. There is a zero tolerance for cheating. Prepare for the exam and look directly into the camera during this exam. I do not want to have to go down an ugly road and give anyone a zero if I suspect that you are cheating.

About How I Provide Feedback to You

As I mentioned earlier, I encourage you to go into the VHL Supersite (Vistas) and view my updated grades and written and/or oral feedback. Since this is an online class, this is one of the few ways to receive instructor feedback. You do not have the advantage of being in class with me 5 hours a week to receive constant and immediate feedback. The best way to learn is from your own mistakes. I will provide feedback on VHL in the comments sections. VHL will notify you that there is feedback awaiting your review under “notifications” on your dashboard.

One more thing to keep in mind: if you want feedback/explanation/help with a particular activity on the VHL Supersite (Vistas), simply click on the “Ask your Instructor” link, highlight the exercise that is giving you trouble, and type in your question. I will respond quickly.

About How I communicate with You

There is a weekly overview page that explains what you need to do for the week. I will provide links to all information for easy access. I usually upload a video every week that explains what you need to do for the week and the skills we are working on. 

About Communicating with Me via E-mail

Please use the CANVAS email for all communications with me, unless you have a personal problem that you do not wish to share with other students in the class. In that case, you may e-mail me directly to thorneka@piercecollege.edu or via the Inbox option in Canvas. When you send e-mail, please put the title of this course and the topic you are writing about in the "Subject" line (for example: Online Spanish 101, Composition 2). I will respond to you within 24 hours.

 

Also, as e-mail names often do not describe the name of the student, please start all e-mail messages with your full name for easy identification and communication. It is highly recommended that you copy yourself (CC) when sending an e-mail in the rare event that your message gets lost in Cyberspace.

 

About Tutoring

Free Spanish tutoring is available. Please contact me for more information. 

 

About Academic Honesty

There is a zero-tolerance policy for cheating at Pierce College. If it comes to the attention of the instructor that a student is part of an episode of cheating or has plagiarized any material she/he turns in for a grade, a recommendation for disciplinary action will be given to the Dean of Students.

Cheating is copying material from the work of another student.  Cheating is using concealed material during an exam.  Cheating is checking the Internet for answers to questions or prompts. Cheating is having someone else write material that does not have the author’s name on it. Cheating is having someone else complete online activities and exams in your place. Plagiarism includes using any material that you do not quote, or for which you do not give due credit to the original author in any work you turn in for a grade. If you include sources from the Internet in your work, it must be cited, as you would do for any book, magazine, journal or any other document. Any work you turn in that includes outside material not correctly cited will receive a zero and a recommendation for disciplinary action. 

About Netiquette

Online etiquette is extremely important. We must show respect to one another at all times. Rudeness and disrespect will not be tolerated in this course. Please recognize that communication is rather "flat" online where we cannot see and hear each other. So be cautious when using sarcasm or negative statements. Whenever possible, give constructive criticism and treat others the way you would like to be treated

 

About the Drop Policy

Students who are inactive will be dropped from the course. If an entire week goes by with no activity on your part either through email communication or submission of VHL activities, you will be dropped from the course. Therefore, it is imperative that you let me know if, for some reason, your contribution to the class will be interrupted.

¡OJO! During the first week of class, I will check to see that you have accessed the course in Canvas. If by the end of the first day of the semester you have not logged on to Canvas, I will send you an e-mail letting you know that you are in danger of being dropped from the course.

If you do not respond in some way, I will drop you from the course by the end of the first day. This may seem harsh, but there are always long wait lists for this course and I would like to give seats to students who are serious about successfully completing the course.

 

LEARNING SUPPORT at Pierce College

More information about these services can be found online at: http://www.piercecollege.edu/pierce_students.asp (Links to an external site.) and in print in the current Pierce College Schedule of Classes.

 

Course Summary:

Date Details Due